The Pilot Project Component will continue through years 16-20 (2002-2007) of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center (IARC). This Component is a mechanism for funding promising, innovative research projects, for attracting new investigators to the alcohol research field, for developing new methodologies, and for exploring areas of potential relevance to the overall aims of the IARC. The flexibility inherent in the Pilot Project mechanism has allowed the IARC to respond rapidly to unique scientific opportunities as they have arisen and to support research projects with good potential for evolving into extramurally funded research programs. The IARC Pilot Project Component has had a demonstrably strong stimulatory effect on the growth of alcohol research on the IU campus over the past 14 years. We believe that there has been a remarkable rate of success in obtaining independent extramural funding, subsequent to the receipt of IARC pilot funding, for both new investigators as well as for more senior scientists who have entered new alcohol-related research arenas. Based on past performance, we anticipate that this component will result in continued growth of the lARC research program in important new directions. The Administrative Core will provide oversight for the pilot projects which are managed in the Pilot Project Component under the direction of Jan Froehlich with input from Dave Crabb, T.-K. Li, Sean O'Connor and the External Advisory Committee.